HJ: Removing and reprogramming limiting beliefs is perhaps the most powerful thing you can do to shift your reality and your consciousness. That’s because limiting beliefs control how we perceive the world, what decisions we make, what emotions we feel and ultimately our thoughts. Shift those and you shift everything.

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. – Gordon Livingston
The most secure prisons are the ones we construct for ourselves. – Henry Ford

What beliefs do you have, about yourself and the world, that constrain your present experience and impede your ability to have the future you want?

“I can’t do that because I don’t have the time/money/skills.”

“If I tried that I’d probably fail.”

“I’m just not that type of person.”

“No one has ever achieved that, so I couldn’t either.”

“Others have achieved that, but they had a natural talent that I just wasn’t born with.”

“I’m powerless to change things.”

“I need to buy/achieve that in order to be happy/successful.”

“People wouldn’t respect/like/love me if they knew the real me.”

“I don’t deserve happiness/success/love.”

Some limiting beliefs we create ourselves. Others are encouraged by those who benefit from the injunctions the beliefs impose. But nearly all limiting beliefs are rooted in fear: of failure, of rejection, of social judgment. We turn away from what we fear and retreat to the confines of our comfort zone. In doing so, we give limiting beliefs their self-fulfilling power and accommodate ourselves to false inevitabilities.

To free yourself from your limiting beliefs, shine the light of awareness on them. Examine your beliefs, and explore the impact each is having on your life. Challenge any beliefs that aren’t helping you to live the life you want. To dispel a limiting belief you just need to find one exception from your past; at least once in your life you succeeded at something you didn’t expect to, so you can be successful with your next challenge too. Replace each limiting belief with its empowering opposite.

Also shine a light on your decision making. We live most of our lives on autopilot, often unthinkingly doing whatever comes naturally. But we’re far less constrained than we think. We have countless options at every instant in time, if only we’d notice them.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Can you really not live there now?

If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? Is there really no way to make that change?

What would you do if you won the lottery? Is there really no way to do those things now?

What would you attempt if you were sure to succeed? Should you already be trying those things?

For each of these questions, explore whether the obstacles to your ideal life are real or imagined. Are they truly preventing you from having what you want? Reframe these obstacles as challenges put there to give you a chance to show yourself and the world how much you want those things.

Today’s Activity

List harmful beliefs you have about yourself or the world, and search for evidence to disprove each.

Catch yourself when you think or say “I can’t” or “I have to”, and see if it’s really true.